Twitter Inc Stock Touches New Low As Talk of Buyout Swirls

Twitter stock has been in a downward spiral since the company’s last earnings report, and it reached a new record low of $13.90 per share before bouncing back above $14. This year alone, the stock has plunged 40%, and it now sits almost 50% lower than the initial public offering price of $26. As a reminder, the stock’s record high was hit a month after the IPO in December 2013 at $74.73, notes CNN Money.

Twitter stock still tumbling

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been pulling out all the stops in an attempt to turn around falling user growth and push the micro-blogging platform out of the niche it’s in and into the mainstream. One of the most recent moves is the addition of the first editor-in-chief at Twitter’s Periscope.

However, all efforts to achieve these two goals have been in vain. Investors appear to have lost hope in the company as Twitter’s announcement about the NFL deal to live-stream Thursday Night Football games has not helped bolster its stock price. The company’s market capitalization now stands at less than $10 billion, meaning that last week’s earnings report shaved more than $4 billion off its value.

Of course it doesn’t help that the broader equity market is seeing a selloff today as well. The S&P 500 Index declined 0.82% to 2,064.33, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.73% to 17,760.26 in afternoon trades.

Will Carl Icahn buy Twitter stock?

In a post on CNN Money, Paul R. La Monica noted that speculations about a major upheaval at Twitter are returning. He wonders whether an activist investor like Carl Icahn will step in and take the micro-blogging platform under his wing (pun intended). Although he has never disclosed a position in Twitter stock, many have speculated for some time that he’s one of the more likely activist investors to take an interest in the company because he uses its platform often. Also billionaire David Einhorn took a position in Yelp recently, meaning that he at least has an interest in social media.

The chatter about Twitter becoming a takeover target is also returning again with Google parent Alphabet frequently being named as a potential suitor.